


December

by mk_tortie



Category: Persona 3
Genre: F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 01:30:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5520383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mk_tortie/pseuds/mk_tortie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ryoji's revelations, Minako decides they should go to Tartarus. It doesn't go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	December

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Overlimits](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overlimits/gifts).



_December 4th_

They went to Tartarus. Without Aigis there, it felt all wrong, but it was all Minako could think of for them to do. Sitting around in the dorm would be worse. Leaving them, and heading to the Mall, worst of all. Tartarus was a distraction.

"Is there any point?" Akihiko asked, and her heart went cold. There were certain things she could rely on, things that helped her make sense of the world: Koromaru's loyalty, _(Aigis' loyalty)_ , Mitsuru's dedication to the cause, _(Shinjiro's dedication to Akihiko)_ , Akihiko's love of combat... And they were tumbling away from her like a collapsing house of cards. If Akihiko couldn't see the point in fighting, then the world was all wrong. 

"Of course there's a point," Mitsuru snapped at him. "Ensuring we are at full strength means we will be ready to face whatever we might need to when..." she faltered, and Minako's cold feeling spread outwards, stifling her breath. 

"When Ryoji comes back," Yukari finished for her, with a glance at Mitsuru, a brush of her hand across the older girl's back. Reassurance. 

Minako looked at Akihiko, and swallowed away the cold feeling. "Let's go," she said simply, firmly, and activated the elevator before they could argue. 

\---

They halted at the 211th floor, sweating and breathing hard. They had gone through twenty floors, hacking, slashing, crying "Persona" and tossing each other healing items, without speaking or thinking or doing anything other than immersing themselves in the battle. 

Minako looked at the others, and ahead at the glow of the elevator. "Should we go back?" she asked, her voice sounding strange in her ears, somehow out of place.

"No," Akihiko said, hard, the word coming out as a strangled almost-cry. 

Yukari shrugged, and Mitsuru narrowed her eyes, but neither said a word - something Minako should, with hindsight, have taken as a warning sign, but right now she was in no frame of mind to think about anything at all, other than to lose herself in the fight, and nothing else.

She knew, as soon as they entered the battle, that it had been a mistake. The Reckoning Dice blocked all their magical attacks, threw back their physical attacks until they were all on the brink of unconsciousness and Fuuka was screaming warnings in her ear. When - at last - Minako caught a lucky break, and the Dice missed, she cried to the others. "Run!"

They escaped - _just_ \- Minako leading the way, Akihiko at the rear, stumbling, Yukari propping up Mitsuru. Minako waited anxiously by the elevator, gesturing Yukari and Mitsuru through, grabbing Akihiko as he fell, and pulling him in with her. They stumbled out at the empty 201st floor, one they'd cleared with ease earlier on, and collapsed to the ground, gasping.

"Mitsuru!" Yukari said, her face filled with worry. "Snap out of it!" 

Mitsuru was still confused, fighting Yukari's efforts to heal her. Minako tossed over a Patra gem and knelt beside Akihiko. His face was pale. "Are you OK?" she asked, gently touching his shoulder. 

He grimaced. "I'll be fine," he said, but his voice was strained. She looked at him, trying to do her best "Mitsuru face", and he ducked his head and looked away. "OK, I'm not fine. I need healing, and we're out of energy," he said, roughly, embarrassed. 

"And items," Minako said, and the cold from earlier froze her heart again - fear, she realised. Fear and guilt. "I'm sorry, senpai," she said softly. "This is my fault."

"I said we should go ahead," he said, sharply. "It's mine."

"I'm the leader," she reminded him, and he looked back up at her, with an almost-grin working its way around the pain.

Behind her, Mitsuru groaned. "My head," she moaned. "What happened?"

Yukari's worried voice: "Mitsuru! I thought the Patra gem hadn't worked!"

Mitsuru shifted, groaned again, but her next words were sharper, and told Minako she was herself again. "What happened to the Dice? Did we defeat the enemy?"

Minako looked back at Akihiko, still grimacing with pain, as Yukari explained what had happened. 

"Yukari, Mitsuru, can either of you still use Mediarahan?" she broke in, once Yukari had mostly finished. "Or even Mediarama? Media?" Yukari was already shaking her head, while Mitsuru tried, straining, but gave up. 

"I'm sorry, Arisato," she said. "I have nothing left."

Akihiko shifted, painfully, and grunted. "Forget about it. Let's just go back. We can heal at the clock." He reached out and brushed Minako's hairline, his fingers coming away red. For the first time, Minako noticed the pounding at her temples. "I'm not the only one who needs healing, anyway," he said, a softness entering his voice that Minako had previously only heard in their private time together. Her breath hitched, but she offered him her hand.

He winced again as he stood, unable to put weight on his injured leg, and leaned heavily on Minako. Yukari offered Mitsuru her hand, and the four of them made their way to the elevator. 

When they tried to activate it, though, nothing happened.

"Perhaps we broke it, coming to this floor from another one?" Yukari said, tremulously. "I mean, we've never done that before."

Akihiko slumped down against the wall with a groan, and Minako suddenly realised something. "Fuuka?" she called, cautiously. 

No reply.

"Fuuka?" she tried again, louder, but no answer came. 

Mitsuru leaned against the wall, her face pale and serious. "I believe we are stuck here," she said.

Yukari fell back against the wall beside her, and let out a gasp that was almost a sob. "What do we do now?" she asked, looking at Minako automatically.

The cold fear had filled Minako's chest, creeping up into her brain and fogging her other emotions. Her head ached. She closed her eyes once, hard, forcing herself to _think_.

Opening her eyes, she realised that she had a plan, at least for now. At least, if not a plan, a way of reassuring the others.

"We wait," she said simply. "Fuuka will be trying to find us, and we're not so far from where we were. Even if they have to come up from another floor, if the elevator is really broken on this one, they'll be able to find us. It'll be obvious we never made it past 211." She left unspoken the other worry, that the elevator was broken altogether, not just here, although she knew it had occurred to all of them. "We have a little food, and I have some canned drinks. We can wait a while."

She sat down beside Akihiko and handed him an Apple Strudel and a can of 1UP. "Here, eat something. I don't think they have any healing effect, but it's got to be better than nothing, right?"

To her relief, he took them, and as Mitsuru and Yukari sat down opposite them, she tossed them cans and food from the school store as well.

After eating, Minako felt a little better. It seemed that so did Akihiko. As she crumpled up her melon bread wrapper, he put his arm over her shoulders and pulled her in close to him. 

She drew in a quick breath, but then relaxed, leaning into him. He had never been willing to touch her like this in front of Mitsuru before – not that she was jealous of his friendship with Mitsuru in any way, but she knew they went back a long, long way, and that had to make things difficult for him. In any case, this was… nice. Really nice. 

She thought of something. “Senpai… Aki. Your leg. I’m not hurting you?”

He shrugged. “It’s OK. It feels more numb than anything now.”

“You do look less pale,” Mitsuru noted, and Minako looked up. She was surprised to see Yukari, leaning against Mitsuru in much the same way she herself leant against Akihiko.

Mitsuru cocked an eyebrow at her, but said nothing. Yukari’s eyes were closed, the tension and worry on her face beginning to drain away as Mitsuru held her close. Mitsuru leant her own head against Yukari’s, and Yukari reached out, clasping her other hand. Despite their concerning situation, they looked utterly at ease with each other, radiating a peace that infected Minako. The last of the cold fear in her chest drained away, and she reached up for Akihiko’s hand, resting on her shoulder, and entwined her fingers in his.

\---

Fuuka's voice echoed around them. "Oh, thank goodness! I thought I'd never find you! Are you all all right?"

Mitsuru took control. "Yamagishi, it's good to hear your voice. We're on the 201st floor, and in need of healing. Please send Amada and Koromaru through the elevator. We can't activate it from our end for some reason, and Akihiko requires healing."

A pause, and then Fuuka's response: "They're on their way."

Minako let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, and Akihiko pulled her closer. She heard Yukari let out a relieved sob, saw Mitsuru kiss her head, and knew that this had brought them all together, somehow. Her thoughts focused for the first time since the Moonlight Bridge, and suddenly the world made sense again.

She knew what she would decide now, come January 1st.


End file.
